Paw of Brambles, part one
by thehyperone
Summary: This is my first Tamora Pierce fic. Basically takes place a little after Magic Steps.


A/N: Hello everyone! Her Hyperness is here! Anyway, this is a Tamora Pierce fic I just HAD to write after I finished _Magic Steps_, please note that any progress on this fic is completely up to you (hopefully) faithful reviewers. No reviews, no more of this. And that's that. Happy reading!

Paw of Brambles, Part 1

By the_hyper_one

Chapter One

Kendalla oi Glenrod was a highly bred, intelligent noble with skills at voice, dance, and sewing, as well as creamy white skin and raven black hair framing long black eyelashes and dark green eyes. She was also the strangest thing that had ever happened in Magella oi Glenrod's still young life.

Magella was a cousin thrice removed from the Queen's chief advisor, and this fact had caused her noble stature, condescending glances, and infinite pride; but behind the jewels adorned on her ivory skin, she was just a teenage girl, scared without a loving mother to take care of her, her own having passed away years ago. Her father was a duke, owner of several strings of lands, and he had provided a good dowry for her marriage since her twelfth birthday. She was an only child, and her father was passing on the lands to his nephew, a gloomy young man who was always moaning about the weather and its effect on him. Magella had never been particularly fond of him and therefore was completely and utterly surprised when he asked for her hand in marriage. She had gaped, for once her dignity and manners forgotten, and finally uttered something that sounded very much like "Terribly sorry, my lord," to the eavesdropping servants, who had gasped and passed it on to the others. 

Her father had been very angry at her, having ordered his nephew to do this act, and told her in disgust to find a husband on her own. It took her little time before she introduced a merchant's eldest son as her betrothed, and watched her father faint for the first time in his solemn life. 

The wedding was a quiet one, held in a small chapel near the town where her husband, Golem, lived, and for several years they lived well, taking over the merchant's job when he passed away. Five years later a letter read that the estate of Magella's father now belonged to her as he had retired at long last and his nephew had created a series of blunders of ruling the land and was now stripped of his title as owner. 

They moved into the castle, always under the watchful and solemn eye of her father, and lived happily as a family of three. That soon changed when a midwife was rushed over to attend to Magella, finally holding up the seven-pound Kendalla, an unusually quiet baby (at least she is red faced, as her mother inwardly thought, and has healthy lungs, or else I'd be scared of evil). She grew quickly, a generally small child with a pretty face and well proportioned body, until she was two and a seer came to predict her future. 

It had been Golem's wish to hire one; his family ran such traditions at every birth. As Magella generally thought of them as an annoyance that blubbered about nonsense and not half as efficient as a mage, she was not very pleased but for her dear husband's sake, accepted. When the seer arrived, she sparkled incense in the air, causing Kendalla to sneeze rapidly, and took the baby's hand in hers. Her eyes became glassy for a moment, the pupils huge, and then receded as the seer gulped, visibly scared.

"Keep her away from magic," she said, falling back in a dead faint.

So Kendalla was curtained from magic, growing up happily with sparkling eyes and red cheeks. Her laughter was pretty, even if it did not ring like bells as her mother's did, and her locks, though not curly, were wavy and left to fall to her shoulder blades, the longest length she would tolerate them. She was, whole in whole, a pleased, secure young girl.

There were still shadows in Magella's pride of her daughter, however. For one, Kendalla always wanted to go outside, to meet the animals and pet and stroke them. Even the animals that normally were terrified at the sight of a human being were docile with her, letting her pet them or feed them bits of food. Sometimes she would climb trees to visit squirrels, leaving her nurse (her real name was Blanca, but she was known to all as Nurse) wringing her hands below, her fear of heights stopping her from giving Kendalla a good scolding. Occasionally watching from a window or balcony, Magella could have sworn that her daughter's lips were moving when she was petting or looking at an animal. This soon passed, however, and when the young lady was nine she no longer opened her mouth when visiting animals.

Magella would often wonder about her daughter, that strange little girl who was somewhat confusing. She shook off the thought; but when her father died, she was too preoccupied to notice that Kendalla was actually talking to an old hound in small grunts, while the dog answered back, moaning with sadness.

Chapter 2

Kendalla sprang out of bed; black locks a mussed mess and nightgown rumpled beyond recognition. Nurse immediately got up from her cot near the fire and with one look at the lady pulled up the covers of her bed. Several castle cats were nestled in the warmth. Nurse shooed them away, obviously displeased.

"I told you not to let them into your bed. You could get sick, my lady." She scolded, bringing a hot bowl of water for Kendalla's face and hands, and held it out.

"But they looked so cold! And they said so too – " 

"I'm sure they did, my lady. Now help me get you into this dress." Nurse said quickly, drying the lady's face with a dry cloth. Kendalla just shrugged, cheerfully stepping into the play dress she wore whenever she went outside (which was extremely often). An hour later she had slid down the banister, greeted her parents, eaten a warm breakfast, and was finally stretched out on the grass, talking with a field mouse. Nurse was inside and her parents were both off to the shipyard, and till dinner she had a free day ahead of her. 

Suddenly, as the mouse squeaked, gave a final goodbye, and dove into her den, Kendalla raised her small head and saw a small cloud of dust on the road. She sprang up, ignoring the now dirty gown and hair with strands of grass tucked inside them, and ran to greet the guests. 

As the dust cleared, she saw two figures, both on horseback. One sat tall, obviously comfortable, while the other was gripping the reins too tightly and clinging to the saddle with his knees. The first was a beautiful, tanned woman, her face clearly accentuated without any of the rouge her mother wore, and silky black hair carefully tied back. Her eyes were sharp but held a slight sparkle, while her full red lips were evenly placed without showing any emotion. She wore an earth green habit, and her horse had a matching green in its blanket. 

The other was slightly taller, though it was harder to see with his slouch. He was dark-skinned with green eyes and blunt nose, looking like it should end somewhere but hadn't. His jaunty way of holding his head up gave him a street boy's look. A dark cloak was spread over his white shirt, which he had cut the sleeves of. He slid several times; the horse snorted and shifted. 

Kendalla gave a polite curtsy, motioning for a groom to take the horses and their bags. The lady slid off gracefully, while the boy slid off the rump of the horse, dodging away just in time to avoid being kicked by the annoyed horse. The grass seemed to stretch toward him as he got up; he gave it a stern look and it subsided. 

"Good day. I'm Lady Kendalla oi Glenrod. If you have need of lodgings for the night, feel free to stay here," she opened her eyes very wide, looking pleadingly at them. "Please do. There are _never_ any visitors, and it gets _so_ boring sometimes." The woman smiled in the slightest bit – she hardly looked able for a hearty grin – while the boy looked at Kendalla in a bemused expression. He lost it at once, as if he had forgotten himself. The woman smiled and inclined her head in a nod. Kendalla grinned, revealing her spaced out teeth, and skipped ahead to the house, whistling a tune about a maiden who lived with a cannibal. She had learned it from the stable boys, who taught her everything that did not relate to proper culture. 

The doors opened, and Nurse stepped out, looking like she always did when she saw Kendalla's clothes ruined, but stopped when she saw the guests. She gave a gasp and curtsied, lower than she did to Magella and Golem, and stayed there for five seconds. When she rose, her face was white and she was biting her lip. 

"Dedicate Rosethorn. What an honor! Would you care to step inside? Food? Drink?" the woman (Rosethorn?) smiled again, that slight smile that suited her so well.

"Thank you, that would be lovely." She totally ignored the boy, who looked put out at being ignored, and stepped into the house. The boy, still sulking, stepped in the house before Kendalla could. She stuck her tongue out at him daintily and skipped ahead to hold Nurse's hand. 

After a quick tea, Nurse and Rosethorn moved into the parlor, while Kendalla and the boy stayed outside. The boy scuffed the Oriental carpet with the tip of his foot, a disgusted expression on his face. Kendalla watched and finally stood up, saying,

"If you don't like it here, why don't you leave? Just go get this Rosethorn person and go off riding on your tired horses. And next time, don't slide off the horse's rump. He hated that, he said the last time someone did that it was the miller's five-year-old son who wanted to ride on his daddy's horse." She turned, small nose in the air, and went to the corner, where a gray cat was sprawled on the window ledge. She petted his head; the cat looked up immediately and purred.

_What was that about? _The tom asked, who was named Sultan. _You sounded angry_.

_Only a dim bulb that doesn't know a horse's rump from its flanks. That boy… he makes me _so_ mad!_ She fumed, going at eyelevel of Sultan.

_Ignore him. He's only hiding his interior_. 

_And what's _that_ supposed to mean?_

_He let a friend die. He won't forget that soon_. Kendalla watched the tom, horrified.

_Let a friend _die_? What, did he kill him?_

_It was the blue pox. And she was a she. Befriend him. It might save your life sometime._

__Kendalla was about to question him, but he gave her a look that clearly said, _let it be_. She sighed angrily, and turned to see the boy standing, no longer scowling. He was staring at her, eyes wide. 

"What?" she asked crossly, still mad at this boy who had no respect for animals. 

"Only… were you actually _talking_ with that cat?"

"Well, I wouldn't wake him up for no reason, would I?" she responded. The boy looked shocked.

"Do you have… the gift?" 

"Magic isn't real."

"Oh?"

"Oh." 

The boy regarded her for a moment more, and then extended his hand.

"Briar Moss." She took it but let go suddenly.

"You're a thief!" she exclaimed, looking at the two X's tattooed on his hands. He closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to be regarding a memory. He shuddered. His eyes opened again, somehow weary.

"Yes, kid, I am a thief. Or was. Now I'm a pupil, of a kind, of Dedicate Rosethorn. We're traveling back to Winding Circle Temple. I suppose you don't believe in the Gods either, if you don't believe in magic?" he said as an afterthought.

"Of course I do. The Gods are real – magic is a delusion, a slight of hand or trick of the eye." The boy, Briar, shook his head and took a cracker from the tea tray on the table. 

"Well, turns out I'm just the opposite." At that moment, Nurse and Rosethorn stepped out from the parlor. Nurse had lost her white pallor, but was still wringing her hands on a handkerchief. Rosethorn turned to Kendalla, eyes sharp.

"Come here, child." Kendalla, somehow nervous, stepped forward. The Dedicate put both hands on her shoulders, face sharp. "I have just learned something that has greatly disturbed me. You have been curtained from one of the most important things in life: magic. Now listen to me, child. It does exist. If you doubt me, you may ask any learned person." She let go, suddenly seeming disinterested. Kendalla, eyes wide, turned to Nurse, who nodded sadly. Kendalla let out a small breath, and then, to everyone's surprise, laughed.

"Well, _that_ clears a lot of questions." She said, half to herself, and curtsied quickly before running out of the room to the gardens. Briar looked after her, startled.

"Where's _she_ going?" he asked, grabbing another cracker. Nurse shrugged.

"Oh, Lady Kendalla often rushes outside. She – her mother thinks she has wild magic." She barely whispered the words. "She often talks to her animal friends when there's something to say." 

"Oh." Briar said, trying to seem like a bored, sullen boy once more.

When Kendalla came back in, straw from the stables in her hair, the guests had left. She pouted slightly at the table with only Nurse (her parents were spending the night in town, to tend to some problems at the wharfs) till Nurse told her they would be back in several weeks, as Dedicate Rosethorn had to attend to business in town (at this Kendalla smiled broadly, ignoring the fact that Briar was an annoying prat in the joy of having guests). 

Several weeks later was prayer day, the day Kendalla hated most. It required her staying indoor all day, which made her feel restrained, and also stopped her from talking to her outdoors friends. The gown she was forced to wear, a tight satin, restricted her breathing and making her feel like one of her porcelain dolls (particularly one with a cracked head, whose dress was so tight it was impossible to take off). Her very religious mother and her not-so-religious father were back, as serious on this occasion as ever, and Kendalla was bored. Bored stiff. 

Sultan was missing, probably able to escape outside, she thought testily. Empress, Magella's giant, silky Persian, was as lazy as ever, her golden food dish empty (as usual). So when she was staring outside at the cloudy sky and she heard a servant answer a knock at the door, she was happily surprised at the thought of visitors. She raced downstairs, two stairs at a time, and ran straight into Briar Moss, who picked himself up off the floor in a disgusted manner.

"You?" she asked crossly, hoping a more exciting visitor.

"Me, and if I'd had my way we'd be back at Winding Temple with Sandry and Tris, and Daja and Lark. Definitely _not_ with you." 

Kendalla gave him her best "I am superior" look and curtsied politely to Rosethorn, who nodded briskly. 

"Where are your parents, girl?" she asked, handing her cloak to a servant. Kendalla trotted off in the direction of the drawing room. Briar, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "money bags" followed at a fair distance, giving the tapestries harsh looks. Magella and Golem looked up and bowed/curtsied, eyes wide. Again Briar and Kendalla were put out in the hall while the elders talked, and they used this time to shoot insults at each other. They didn't really know how the war between them had been kindled, but it was fun even if they didn't want to admit it. 

When Magella, Golem, and Rosethorn emerged, Kendalla's parents were shaking. Magella was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, making incomprehensible noises. Golem, holding his wife against his chest, said in a hoarse voice,

"Kendalla, go pack all your belongings. You'll leave tonight with Dedicate Rosethorn and her student." Kendalla stared at him, color draining from her face. 

"What do you mean?" she croaked. Rosethorn, her face like stone, said briskly, "I'll explain." She sat down on a chair. "Listen well, girl. I won't repeat it again.

"You are clearly gifted with wild magic. Not as much as, say, Daine Sarrasri in Tortall, for instance, but still a rather large portion. Briar first noticed this when he met you. As he is the first to do this and there is no real teacher for wild magic, you will be apprenticed to control your magic from him. You will leave with us tonight to go to Winding Circle, where will you live in Discipline. We will back at that time." 

She gave a polite nod to Magella and Golem and briskly took Briar's hand and led him out of the room. There was a moment's silence, and then Magella flung herself at her daughter.

"Oh, my sweet, be good and make us proud. We'll miss you so much. And remember, stay away from people who could do you harm." She looked like she wanted to say 'traders' but a stern look from Golem stopped her. Golem's great-grandmother had been a trader. "Anyway, my dear, behave and stay out of trouble. Don't let that thief boy govern you. Remember your breeding." Golem knelt to get his eyes level with hers. He gave her a hug and said,

"Remember we'll always love you. You can visit some times, if Dedicate Rosethorn allows it." He didn't seem very confident she would, but said nothing more. 

Magella gave her daughter another watery hug and then sent her upstairs. Kendalla stared at her room as she opened the door. It was a tower bedroom, with a perfect view of the pond, woods, and the ocean beyond that. Would this strange Winding Circle temple have these things? Would there be animal friends there as well? She saw a servant starting on her packing, and quickly said,

"Please, let me do it. You are excused." The maid curtsied and left. Kendalla looked into her large closet. She packed many work gowns, several elegant ones, and finally three of her newest play gowns if – the grand _if _– there was ever the opportunity to make new friends. She still had room in her large trunk, and put the large portrait of her family – she was only a baby in the picture – inside as well. Her toiletry kit had already been put inside. 

She sighed. She wanted to bring everything with her, but she didn't have much room left. Her gaze fell on the warm quilt on her bed, the one she had grown up with. She pushed it in and closed the latch. She changed into her traveling gown and grabbed her cloak, waiting for nightfall. She finally fell asleep.

Animals were everywhere, swarming her vision. Sultan suddenly appeared, seemingly the spokesperson. 

_You're leaving us._ he said. 

_I'm sorry. I know what I have to do, and I _do_ have to do it. I can't get out of it, particularly since Rosethorn wouldn't accept me unless it was required. _

_Oh? _Sultan's voice was skeptical. _She hides her petals behinds the thorns. You'll see that._

_How come _you_ can see everything about people?_

__Sultan blinked, as if surprised. _Oh – a cat thing. Anyway, you will leave us. I understand this. _

_Oh, Sultan._ She gave him a large hug. 

_Honestly, you humans. _He muttered, but still looking pleased. _But remember – we won't be as gone as you might think_. The view disappeared, and she woke up blearily.

"My lady, please wake up. It's time." Nurse was saying. Kendalla wiped her eyes and saw her former nurse with tears running down her cheeks. 

"Oh, Nurse!" she cried, giving her a bear hug that hardly encompassed the large woman. Nurse hugged her back, sobbing uncontrollably. 

"Oh, my lady! My lady! Be a good girl, my lady!" she sobbed. Kendalla reached up and wiped a fat tear from her cheek. 

"I love you, Nurse." She said, and kissed her on the cheek. Nurse took a handkerchief and wiped her nose and face, trying to stop the flow of tears still running down them. 

"Oh, my lady. Let's get these things downstairs." She took the trunk and pulled it out of the room. Kendalla trailed behind, taking last looks at her home. Her home for nine and a half years. That she was now leaving. 

She wiped a few tears she had not realized had been there off the bridge of her nose. When she came downstairs, Rosethorn, Briar, and her parents were waiting. Sultan sat on the arm of one of the armchairs. She nodded to her parents and Rosethorn and Briar, and then crouched down next to the serene Sultan. 

_I'll miss you_, she said silently. He licked her nose.

_Remember what I said_. 

_Then you mean_ _– it wasn't just a dream…_ she looked at him closely. He winked slightly. Her eyes widened. 

"We should set off. Thank you for your hospitality, Lady Magella and Lord Golem. Come, girl."

Kendalla gave one last look at her home and loved ones and took a deep breath. A wagon was waiting, her trunk already positioned inside it. Rosethorn was at the front, Briar in the back. Kendalla hopped inside next to him, ignoring the sulky looks he threw in her direction. 

"So you're my teacher now, are you?" she asked finally. "You didn't seem very surprised when it was announced."

"Rosethorn told me before we came back. And this is a warning – I'm not going to baby-sit you constantly. I still need to learn some things from Rosethorn. You'll have to amuse yourself."

"I'm sure I'll find the solitary confinement more pleasing than your company." She retorted. Was she dreaming, or was a small grin playing on Rosethorn's lips? "Anyway, unless Winding Circle Temple is in the desert, I doubt it is deserted of animals."Briar scowled and looked in the other direction. Kendalla watched as her home was slowly covered by the massive trees and tried to stop the tear threatening to fall down her cheek. 


End file.
